Lightning Need Ben Bishop for a Playoff Run

You’ve got the starting pitcher in baseball. The quarterback in football. And the goaltender in hockey. Three positions that can single-handedly change the outcome of the game more than any other in their sport.

Sure, it takes a team effort to win, but if one of these guys has a bad performance, you can almost guarantee a loss.

That’s just one of the reasons why Ben Bishop is currently the Tampa Bay Lightning’s most valuable player.

And after Columbus goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky went down with a lower-body injury in the third period of the Blue Jackets’ 1-0 win over Tampa Bay on Tuesday, I began to think: Would the Lightning be done for without Bishop?

The Bolts need Bishop badly, but they also need some forwards back. Bishop was brilliant on Tuesday, allowing just one (spectacular) goal by Nick Foligno, and the Lightning still managed to lose. They blew a spectacular opportunity to snap their long road losing streak, but they simply couldn’t muster up enough offense.

Nick Foligno #71 of the Columbus Blue Jackets celebrates after scoring a goal during the second period on Dec. 3 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. Not even Ben Bishop could save the Tampa Bay Lightning as they fell 1-0 to the Jackets.(Jamie Sabau/NHLI via Getty Images)

The Lightning are hanging in there until some of their top forwards can return. And Bishop is hanging on for dear life.

But without him for a long period of time, the Lightning are done. Without Bishop, this current version of the Lightning goes from a team competing for a playoff spot to one competing for a top draft pick.

Forward Pierre-Cedric Labrie (left arm/elbow) and defenseman Radko Gudas (upper body) have a chance to return by the end of the week, Cristodero said.

The Lightning have not scored on the road in 137:13. You have to go back to their 5-1 loss on Nov. 21 against the Sharks to find the last Bolts’ road goal, from Tyler Johnson at 7:39 in the third period.

Jonathan Drouin, the Lightning’s first-round draft pick earlier this summer, was named player of the month in the junior Quebec hockey league. Drouin had 12 goals and 31 points in 10 games for the Halifax Mooseheads.

The Bolts will be back in action Thursday at 7:30 p.m. against the Ottawa Senators from the Tampa Bay Times Forum. The meeting will be the first of five this season between the two squads.